Technique/Tools: Swipe File
Now, I have talked about the idea of a commonplace book before (here) the swipe file is a similar idea from design and advertising. The story goes that in the days before computers people in advertising and/or design would collect pictures for reference, usually from advertisements in magazines and newspapers. They would take these pictures and sort them into folders or binders or whatever process makes the most sense.
For me, this feeds into the same place that I keep my commonplace book, Evernote currently, when I see a picture on the web that catches my eye I save it. Then, later when I have some time or need to delay writing for the day, I go through the photos and describe whatever caught my eye about the photo.
for example here are some of my captions for various photos:
“girl, blue hair, big eyes”
“green halo”
“nightmare juice pinups”
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